The Sky Above, Marty Gervais
Guernica Editions, 2024
Though I suspect that poet/writer/raconteur, Marty Gervais, is bursting with stories that require telling, his latest book, The Sky Above, a collection of selected poems, may fill the need until the next book of new material surfaces. Published by Guernica Editions, this is a strong collection of the very best of Gervais’ poems, a retrospective look at his long career both as a significant Canadian literary figure but also as an award-winning journalist. If you don’t know Gervais’ work as a poet, The Sky Above is an excellent starting point to a satisfying reading journey. And if you have come to know Gervais, the poems assembled here will once again engage you and pique your interest as they truly shine a light on a celebrated writing career.
Several of Gervais’ poems are inspired by his many years in journalism, as a columnist and reporter, mostly with the Windsor Star. He has interviewed luminaries and witnessed the very great in action: activist and hero Rosa Parks, pianist Vladamir Horowitz, renowned portrait photographer Pat Sturn, opera virtuoso Luciano Pavarotti. These and others are immortalized, less to emphasize their legendary notoriety than to capture their humanity and spirit.
His charming portrait of a physically failing Muhammad Ali is authentic and sincere:
The hands I noticed first---
I sat across from him
knowing the swagger
and bluster and swiftness
and now before me
he moved with aching slowness
not with the grace of history
still, his words were in perfect
timing
slow, yet ever calculating
not surprising—they always were that
way
And there are also the many works that draw on personal observations of people and things, the mundane and the everyday elevated to the deserved importance that is their due. Whether he writes about porch spiders, the status of his clothes, chance meetings of people in diners or on the street, stuff accumulated, or ruminations about nature, the moon or life in a hospital room, Gervais does not let anything escape his curiosity, his sense that everything has a time and place, that there is a reason for all that he sees and all that he chooses to celebrate.
His tender plea in “Let Me Go First” is sweet and sensitive and aptly captures the observational and accessible qualities germane to his style:
I don’t want to mourn your death
Let me go first, free me of
arrangements
solemnities, eulogies, loneliness,
closets full of shoes
and dresses, jewelry, eyeglasses
Let me be the flattened bicycle tire
hanging from a nail in the garage
an abandoned, forgotten tennis racket
a winter tire leaning against a post
a cardboard box of old vinyl records
I’d rather be those than be me
waiting to catch up, days spent writing
sappy sentimental poems to your memory
I know it’s selfish but what else is new—
I was always first out the door
you always minutes late
I don’t want to change things—
I just want to be first
P.S. I still love you
The poetry here is as good as it gets. Remarkably, I was moved by what two equally well known and revered Canadian poets had to say about him in the introduction and preface that accompany the book. Bruce Meyer, first poet laureate of Barrie, Ontario, who carefully arranged the manuscript, writes,
I wanted to honour the poems by allowing each one to speak for itself. I wanted the craft and delicacy Gervais expresses to shine through. No other arrangement would do them the justice they deserve. This book is meant to be read as a portal into a beautiful, thoughtful, and loving mind as Gervais takes us on a journey through the world he loves.
And Brantford Poet Laureate, John B. Lee, honours the poet when he concludes,
It would not be an exaggeration to claim that Gervais is one of the premier poets
of his generation. We who live in Souwesto are grateful for the presence of a chronicler of our place and time. Like Falkner’s Mississippi, Laurence’s prairie home, we have a poet who cherishes and reifies the landscape, this region, our home.
This is, indeed, high and mighty praise. Marty Gervais has been described as “the people’s poet” and, accordingly, is a past recipient of the Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Prize, among many other accolades. He has always advocated that everyone should cultivate, nurture and tell their stories. It is his personal theme, deeply rooted in his psyche long before he became the Poet Laureate Emeritus of his beloved City of Windsor. In his many workshops, his perennial classroom engagements, his countless public speaking ventures, through his prolific writing, his creative camera work and his lauded mentoring of young and old poets alike, Marty Gervais has been a staunch opportunist for those who required a platform to share their stories, those who had to be heard and who had much to say. His fifty plus years as the artistic visionary of his beloved Black Moss Press is a testament to nurturing and promoting poets and story tellers from varied walks of life and experience. In an age when some question, “why does poetry matter”, Marty, through his own pen and sweat equity exclaims that poetry does matter and the voluminous outpouring of work and his personal commitment to poets across this country speaks to this loudly and profoundly.
Like all writers, Marty’s reach may exceed his grasp. But so what? May he continue to strive for all that is good and pure. And may his star continue to rise to “the sky above”.
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Peter Hrastovec is the current Poet Laureate for the City of Windsor.
